Hi, I'm John Roberts, owner of Farmwise Solutions.I'm here to help farms and farm organizations navigate difficult questions and decisions to find economic and environmental success.
Services
Farm Programs and Benefits
Assistance in Assessing the Farm Viability of Your Operation.
How are you making decisions about the future of your operation, in the short term, medium term and long term?
Do you want your operation to continue, do you have family members who want to keep the operation running and grow it?
What role do you want in the future in your operation, and how do you transition?
Do you think you should be bigger? Or different? Or smaller?
Where am I making money, and where is there a drain on economic viability?
Developing Sustainability Plans to Ensure Environmental Benefits.
Have you assessed if you have environmental risks in your operation?
Are you subject to an environmental enforcement action?
Do you know where and from whom you can get assistance, both technical and financial?
Researching and Implementing Best Practices for Sustainable Farming.
What works for your farm, what issues do you need to solve?
What Resources and Information Would Make Your Farm Function Better?
Where do you find the best information?
Who do you ask or look to, to find out the latest information?
Identifying and Accessing Government or Other Programs and Grants.
What is it that you want to do?
What is the application deadline?
What information is needed for a successful application?
Helping Farmers Navigate Conservation Programs.
Is land conservation right for my farm?
Who do I talk to?
What might be the risks and benefits?
How will conservation impact my farm management goals?
Water Quality Regulation
Help to identify resources to finance a project.
Help with collaboration between various agencies and organizations to complete projects.
Helping to identify potential problems in a cooperative and non-regulatory way, before they become an issue.
Working with government agencies to assist interactions and positive outcomes.
Communication and Liaison Services
Facilitate communication between farmers and government entities.
Advocate for farmers and their interests in public and policy forums, like the Legislature.
Provide a “sounding board” for idea discussion.
Help farmers and organizations to make decisions about practices and management, based on my experience.
Help analyze and discuss potential production decisions, or farm transitions.
Who Am I?
I was brought up in a non-farming family, in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne in Great Britain. Every year my parents rented a house in a part of the country called the Lake District. I started following a farmer around and pretty quickly found the outdoor life, working with livestock and machinery appealing to me.I went to college and studied agriculture with an emphasis on farm management. While at college I came over to work a summer vacation job on a farm in Vermont. This led to my meeting my future wife here and moving to the States.I quickly realized that with the assistance of the Federal government through the USDA agency, Farmers Home Administration, that it was possible for us to buy our own farm. We leased a farm in Cornwall Vermont in 1977, buying it in 1980. We expanded the farm to just over 400 acres, and developed a herd of purebred Brown Swiss, around 195 milkers by the end. We sold the herd in 2012, then in 2016 we sold the farm.During all this time I was active with various national and state-wide groups working on agricultural policy. Since 2012 I have worked for the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, and for the last three years I was the State Director of USDA Farm Service Agency.It is all this experience that I’d like to put to work for you.
Get In Touch
To explore working together, send an email to [email protected] or complete the form below.You can also call or text 802-989-0986.
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